Maraca Media-John O'Mara

Freelance copywriter and blogger, shakin' and rockin' it

Tag: Justin trudeau

Tay Tay and the lost power of persuasion

November 12, 2018 / / 2 Comments

I’m getting carpal tunnel from the frequent clicking of the “hide” button on Facebook posts and scrolling past offensive memes and links from questionable sources.

Yes, I’ve composed political posts to express my frustration that the other side doesn’t get it and holy hell, if they only read my linked article they’ll see the light!

No. They won’t.

And, on the flip side, no, I won’t click on such posts.

So, why stay connected with folks who cause me to hide their posts? Maybe I think they are well meaning or just basically decent people who don’t share my views.

You do not want to be persuaded. You are set in your ways and thanks to social media, all you see is content that supports your views and attacks the other side.

Trying to convert anyone is a waste of key strokes. At least in terms of politics. Post another cat video. Give me your review of Bohemian Rhapsody.

I thought it was entertaining as a tribute to the music of Queen but as a biography…um…not that great.

Then again, what seems to bring the greatest satisfaction to keyboard warriors is being about to gloat over the enemy’s bewilderment and failures. Your guy lost, you idiot! How does it feel being such a loser?

COMING CLEAN

Okay, the photos and links below are slanted liberal because I have always voted Liberal or NDP. I grew up in Toronto and my first MPP was Stephen Lewis in Scarborough West. He set the bar so high for what I felt an elected representative should be and when my Dad was unemployed, Lewis met with my Father to help him out.

Dad found another job and I don’t know if Lewis played any kind of role in that, other than supporting his constituent, but I do know Joseph O’Mara thought the world of Stephen Lewis.

So…

If you’re conservative you may have called them “libtards” or dismissed them as no-nothing Hollywood elites and clueless singers.

Fair enough.

I find it harder to enjoy Cat Scratch Fever because of Ted Nugent’s political views. Love his music, the man…well, let’s move on.

SHAKE IT OFF, TAY TAY

Taylor Swift endorsed the Democratic senate candidate in Tennessee.

He lost, leading Stephen Colbert to say that Tay Tay didn’t have much sway sway. Good on Taylor for speaking out and trying but even a pop superstar couldn’t change political stripes or convince fence sitters.

If you follow Rob Reiner on Twitter you’ll get tweets about his movies but, to paraphrase his character from This is Spinal Tap, you’ll get more, a lot more.

Mostly anti-Trump rants.

As a small L liberal and someone who still feels like Trump’s election was just a bad dream…a really awful nightmare worthy of Stephen King (more on him later)…I have cringed, nodded, cursed and gnashed my teeth along with Reiner.

But he’s preaching to the converted.

Somehow I don’t see Republican supporters in Tennessee saying, “Hey, the director of ‘When Harry Met Sally’ can’t stand Trump, maybe I should rethink this!”

Katie Herzog wrote this terrific piece for The Stranger.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/11/08/35235992/why-do-white-women-support-republicans-because-they-are-republicans

The main point she makes is, Republicans will vote Republican based on their long-standing beliefs and the idea of women supporting each other based on gender alone is not realistic.

“White women are not a monolith. We don’t all know each other. We don’t all go to the same church or yoga class. Some of us, in fact, don’t go to church or yoga at all. “

And now, without further ado, not so constant reader, the master of horror fiction, Stephen King.

I’ve read almost every King novel and, as is the case with Rob Reiner’s tweets, I enjoy King’s constant ridiculing of his President. I mean, it’s Stephen Fucking King, why wouldn’t his tweets be awesome?

And again, preaching to the choir.

Whether it’s Tay Tay, Rob Reiner, George Clooney or Uncle Stevie (as King sometimes refers to himself) the reaction from the right is to be less of a fan or even boycott the artist.

“Clooney’s a dam libtard and he was a shitty Batman, too.”

George wasn’t well suited to be the Caped Crusader but even a super hero can’t change minds, especially closed ones.

TRU-DOPE

So, the next time you post a meme calling Justin Trudeau an idiot or think I should read a piece from an overly-conservative website or an out-and-out nutjob commentator or blogger, I’m hiding it.

If it is from a Facebook group that has “pride” at the end of its name, I’m hiding them as well. Stop pestering me with conspiracy theories and opinions masquerading as news.

I’m a journalism graduate. A big supporter of the media and that includes reputable conservative-leaning publications like The National Post and Macleans.

There’s a huge difference between a right wing paper or magazine that still employs dedicated, fact-checking journalists and educated pundits and the batshit crazy sycophants and propagandists at Fox News.

You aren’t going to change my opinion on politics. I won’t change yours, or even attempt to do so.

I’m not saying you should stop posting and ranting. It’s your right. You feel the need to vent and you’ll get plenty of support from like-minded individuals.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some animal rescue videos to watch.

Who has time to read? I do

August 20, 2018 / / 0 Comments

A few weeks ago, I purchased two books at the Elmvale Flea Market for two bucks.

A toonie in total. For my non-Canadian readers, that’s a two-dollar coin.

The vendor put the books in a shopping bag and said, “I hope you enjoy those.”

WHERE DID ALL THE BOOKS GO?

 

It used to be the flea market had several displays of used books, table after table and box after box. Mostly popular fiction by Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dan Brown as well as Twilight and Harry Potter.

And Fifty Shades of whatever.

On this day, maybe a few vendors remained. The pickings were pretty slim and it made me think, do people read much anymore?

Not on Facebook.

Who has time to read what they are reposting? So much easier to find a meme or suspicious (well, not to them) link and exclaim, OMG, look at this! I’m so outraged. I have no idea what it really means or if it’s real but it supports my views.

Holy hell.

In the summer of 1981 I was working in the mail room of Pilot Insurance in Toronto. I spent my lunch hours in the company lounge and to my delight, Pilot had a collection of books. I’d become a Stephen King fan and lo and behold, Salem’s Lot was on the shelf.

I was 19. A female coworker old enough to be my mother said she’d never seen a teenager that was such an avid reader.

And, if you’re a King fan, you know he regards his fans as “constant readers.”

Go back a few years prior and my Dad was shocked to discover Erica Jong’s “Fear of Flying” in my bedroom. He hadn’t read it, of course. It was scandalous at the time, featuring Jong’s “zipless fuck.” I was 17. Any kind of fuck would have been much appreciated.

Dad became aware of FOF through Newsweek. He had a subscription. I read about Jong’s controversial novel in that same magazine, saw it in a used book store and thought it might be worth buying.

It was.

Long before Youporn and even VCRs, many of us young lads were, um, inspired by the written word when we weren’t checking out the Playboy collections hidden by our friend’s dads in dressers or under the mattresses.

Stephen King wrote in men’s magazines like Cavalier before he hit it big with “Carrie.”

Though I didn’t really read Playboy “for the articles”until my college years.

WHAT I’M READING NOW

By the way, the two books I took home from Elmvale were murder mysteries and I highly recommend both.

‘Piece of My Heart,” by Peter Robinson, and Val McDermid’s “The Grave Tattoo.”

I’m often annoyed by the “share if you agree” posts, surveys and lists on Facebook. Many are clickbait. No value to you, but someone thousands of miles away gets a few bucks for your viewings and repostings.

But…

My cousin Vincent Knowles circulated one about books we’ve found important or inspiring. So here’s one of mine. Read it as a teenager, loved the movie version as well.

So…let’s take a U-turn back to Facebook.

It used to be the only way to express your opinion to the general public was through a letter to the editor in a local or national newspaper. They decided if your take on things was worthy of publishing and called you to verify that you were who you said you were.

Now, any lout has a voice.

The Town of Wasaga Beach holds an annual Remembrance Day event the week prior to November 11th. Why? Because Wasaga doesn’t have a legion branch and the legion in Stayner puts on an additional ceremony to salute the beach’s veterans and their families. They don’t have the resources to hold events on the same day so let me repeat, it’s an EXTRA event.

But that didn’t stop some brainless twit ranting on Facebook about how wrong it was for the town to NOT have an event on 11/11 (the town library does its own event on the actual day).

And…maybe you knew this was coming? They blamed Justin Trudeau.

Read. Fucking read. Anything.

I’m captivated by the HBO’s, “Sharp Objects,” starring Amy Adams. Love that turned up nose (and everything below it). Became aware of the series online and eagerly anticipated it because I had read the book.

Written by Gillian Flynn, author of “Gone Girl” and a novel that would likely be an even better miniseries, “Dark Places.”

Flynn was a writer for Entertainment Weekly and you know who’s letter to the editor was accepted by EW?

Mine.

I was defending Canadian actors and singers though I may have taken a shot at Celine Dion. Her career went on.

However, Joseph O’Mara (my Dad) had a letter to the editor published in the Toronto Star way back in in the ’70s when Justin’s Father was the Prime Minister.

 

 

 

 

A Change is gonna come

January 31, 2017 / / 0 Comments

I have thousands of songs in my Rock and Roll Riot library but the one that affects me the most, even when I listen to the (pre-recorded) airings is Sam Cooke’s stirring civil rights anthem, A Change is Gonna Come.

img_0085

Cooke wrote it in 1963 after he and his band members were turned away at a whites-only motel in Louisiana. The African American singer was also inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

I am a proud Canadian. Aside from the climate (why couldn’t they have divided North America down the middle instead of top and bottom?), and with all due respect to my American neighbours, I live in the greatest country in the world.

But….

I am also a citizen of the world. Sounds pretentious and maybe it is, but is a Canadian or American life more important than a German, Japanese, British or (you know this is coming) Syrian life?

No.

img_0084

 

To steal and adapt a line from American President Steve Bannon, Canada first? No, we are great because we welcome immigrants and always have done so. They made us great.

And yes, Bannon isn’t officially the president. Can’t recall the guy’s name but his daughter is hot. But Steve-o seems to be playing a major role in making America white again.

It used to be that left versus right, liberal/conservative or democrat/republican was a matter of politely disagreeing with the other side.

Today, amplified by social media, it’s I’m right, you’re wrong, fuck you.

I have voted liberal or NDP all my life but I also read the National Post and subscribe to MacLean’s magazine, both regarded as conservative. If they criticize Trudeau I am more than willing to read till the end.

Not just the headlines. On Facebook it’s “OMG, I can’t believe it!’

Of course you can’t. You haven’t read it, and know nothing beyond the clickbait likely created by someone who has never interviewed anyone and has zero credentials and limited knowledge.

But repost the nutjob rants and conspiracy theories. I’ll keep blocking them, even if it gives me carpal tunnel syndrome.

Sometimes the legitimate right wing media  are right. And correct. You’d have to be a total twit to swallow everything your party or leader of choice said or believed. You’d be a Stepford wife.

President Bannon has made the media the enemy. So have mind-controlled robots Spicer and Conway because they have been told to do so.

And yet…

img_0086

‘How many deaths will it take til he knows that too many have died? The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.”

Online subscriptions to The Washington Post, The New York Times and many other newspapers have shot up dramatically because, despite what Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Man said, we can handle the truth.

We want the truth. We want facts. We want answers and accountability.

Without the much-maligned mainstream media Tricky Dick would have remained in office and who knows how many more alter boys would have been abused by priests (rent or download “Spotlight) had it not been for the Boston Globe and its investigative reporters?

In one of my favourite movies, “Inherit the Wind,” Gene Kelly’s E.K. Hornbeck (based on legendary journalist H.L. Mencken) says the media’s job is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.

That summation is truer today than it has ever been.

And, in closing, lyrics from the great Sam Cooke.

“It’s been a long time comin’ but I know, a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”

 

 

 

© 2019 Maraca Media-John O'Mara

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: